In ‘Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life’ Ash take readers on a journey from the tragic loss of her daughter to the harrowing process of coming to grips with such a difficult fate. With such pertinence to the reality of millions, the book is expected to resonate with readers around the world.

Allendale, NJ -- (SBWire) -- 07/31/2013 --For Lorraine Ash, a mother’s worse nightmare became true. When she lost her only child to stillbirth in 1999 and then missed the window for biological parenthood, Ash found herself facing a myriad of questions: What did it mean to survive? What does human effort count for? What does it mean to succeed? How does one leave a legacy when one has no progeny? Where is God in all of this? And would she finally get to hear from God now?

‘Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life’ depicts Ash’s struggles as she faces the fierce realities of her life and turns inward, to her soul, for answers. Her bold and emotive journey is being shared to help others struggling to accept their own realities.

Synopsis:

In these pages Ash describes the voicelessness she experienced during years of spiritual seeking, in part the result of a girlhood of reciting prayers instead of talking to God. She also describes a sudden and unexpected encounter with the divine in a hospital bed in the wee hours. Ash had just delivered her stillborn child and was fighting for her own life. During her recovery, she found the black-and-white world of her inner life start to glow with the colors of a gloaming she sees while on a picnic in the hills of Northwest New Jersey. A divine force was beginning to animate her from the inside.

With color and nuance came new possibilities and a voice, at first small, in which Ash learned to speak from her heart. Her new inner life led her to temples, alternative healers on the mesas of Arizona, wisdom from the Tao, and a stunning revelation at Fallingwater, Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural masterpiece in Pennsylvania. Along the way Ash encounters sages but also people of ill will who are never a destination but nevertheless impart important lessons.

Self and Soul is for people living lives of quiet desperation, questioning what it means to strive and succeed in conventional ways, and wondering if their efforts matter. It is an encouragement and inspiration for people who want the peace and knowing that comes with living a divinely inspired life.

As the author explains, thousands of people hit a rut when forced to suddenly cope with unexpected change.

“As a reporter and a writing teacher, I encounter hundreds of stories yearly in which people are struggling with how to think about and cope with personal changes of fate wrought by health concerns, climate change, and job and financial uncertainty,” says Ash.

Continuing, “Self and Soul offers readers ways to tap into healing cultural and spiritual ideas and techniques to aid them in their personal quests. It presents alternatives. It gives hope.”

Since its release, the book has garnered a consistent string of rave reviews. For example, author Julie Bond Genovese says, “Lorraine Ash moves us from the Catholicism of her youth into her search for the divine promised land. On the journey she gently winds her way back to its true place—the sacred home within. Her writing enchants and uplifts, and her noble heart will win yours.”

Julie Lange was equally as impressed, adding, “Once again Lorraine Ash takes us on a quiet journey into the divine depths of the soul. This book lingers in the heart and gives us permission to mine the meaning in our own hidden heartbreaks and private joys.”

‘Self and Soul: On Creating a Meaningful Life’ is available now in paperback and many ebook formats: http://amzn.to/12LdLlp. For more information, visit: http://www.lorraineash.com/selfsoul.htm.

About Lorraine Ash
Lorraine Ash, MA, is the author of two spiritual memoirs. The first one, ‘Life Touches Life: A Mother’s Story of Stillbirth and Healing,’ has touched the lives of bereaved parents around the globe. She believes in spiritual memoir, an old but evolving genre, as a catalyst for personal healing, transformation, and social change. Ash leads spiritual and memoir writing retreats and workshops in her native New Jersey and at conferences nationwide. She also is editorial director of Cape House Books. Visit her at http://www.LorraineAsh.com .